Fighting Back
by Kirke
Summary: RimmerLister slash. After Rimmer gets infected with (yet another) holovirus, Lister must save his life but while doing this, he discovers things that were intended to stay hidden forever.
1. Chapter 1 Maniai

Title: **Fighting Back**

Author: Kirke

Ratings: R

This fic takes place after "Gunmen of the Apocalypse", series 6 and contains some spoilers.

It's Lister/Rimmer slash. Slash two men, in love, sometimes even hugging, kissing or… having sex shock, gasp, horror!

WARNING: This particular fic will include some VERY disturbing images. Violence, bad language and abuse is just for starters. I'm not exaggerating. If you like sappiness, fluffy white bunnies or think that Polymorph was an evil creature don't even start reading. I don't want to be flamed 'cos You thought You might handle something that You can't.

Notes: Since English is not my first (or even second) language I apologize for all the mistakes I might make. My beta is on vacation but I desperately wanted to post it. 

**Chapter 1**

The crew of Starbug (formerly Red Dwarf), consisting of The Last Human Alive, a hard-light hologram and a cat-creature know as Cat sat next to each other, forced to listen to the whole 'we are running out of fuel, out of food, out of ideas' speech once again. The truth it was, none of them really knew how having listen to Kryten repeating the same lines every day could help in their current situation. Briefing finished, random ideas swapped, everyone stood up and went to do their biddings. Everyone except for Lister. He decided that it might be a good moment to check on Rimmer, the normally talkative hologram had spent the last hour staring aimlessly at the wall, acting like the whole thing was none of his concern. While Lister could understand the lack of interest in anything that Kryten had to say, since they all had heard it all before, he knew it wasn't the first or even the second time he had noticed that there was something wrong with Rimmer. He could ignore it and be glad for the lack of constant bickering but, to be honest, he loved annoying Rimmer and what kind of pleasure could bring annoying someone that didn't even seem to notice?

He followed him for a minute and when there were just both of them, he called for Rimmer to stop, took a deep breath and smiled.

"Everything all right, man? For the last few days you've been less present than good taste at Star-Trek convention." His attempt to cheer his bunkmate up had been obviously rejected, as Rimmer just stared at him, his jaw twitching, eyes burning. Lister knew that look from the past, it was aimed at him every time he had done something that in Rimmer's opinion was either disgustingly horrible or horribly disgusting. Any other time he might have enjoy it but not now, he was one hundred percent sure that he hadn't done anything like that recently. If he did surly he would remember.

"Is everything all right? You burned my trunk! And to think of it, for a moment I actually admired you. I trusted you, you lying smeghead" Rimmer spat finally, then turned around rapidly and left, leaving Lister more confused than he was just a minute ago. He couldn't give it any more thoughts as just few seconds later Kryten called everyone into the cockpit announcing, that he had just discovered a moon with a breathable atmosphere. Lister sighed but knowing that at the moment finding water and food was more important that Rimmer's bad mood he strolled behind the hologram, praying that it wasn't just another false alarm.

'The moon with a breathable atmosphere' turned out to be a one gigantic swamp with mosquitoes the size of a small elephant and leaches that could swallow a whole human if they wanted. Bazookoids handy, they found some eatable fruits and vagetables, the always welcome variation from canned beans and powdered cheese. During the few days of exploring, selecting and stocking, Lister couldn't find a minute to speak with Rimmer alone, he did however observed him closely and with growing concern. The hologram, formerly always ready to throw an insulting remark every occasion he got, seemed to shut down completely. He ignored everyone, didn't speak almost at all and if he did he was as eloquent as a praying Amish, his vocabulary reduced to 'no', 'yes' and 'smeg off'. While Kryten and Cat didn't notice (or refused to notice) the difference in Rimmer's demeanor, Lister started to actually feel worried. A nuisance he was, Rimmer was a part of their crew, 'one in trouble all in trouble' and all the sappy rest.

It was a late night (Starbug time) when he and Kryten had finally finished all the work and set Starbug to set off. Lister was sure he could feel every joint and muscle in his body and considering the state of his trousers he had to loose at least few pounds during the last intense days.

He entered the sleeping quarters, stripped his jacket and threw it on the floor. As he was reaching for his shirt he heard a strange noise coming from Rimmer's bunk- something between a whimper and a soft cry followed by a more defiant 'no'. All the weariness forgotten, Lister practically jumped toward the hologram's bed and lean down to check on his crewmate. Rimmer had his eyes shut tight, his right fist clenching and twisting the sheet, while his left arm was frozen few inches above his face, like he was protecting himself from an invisible attacker.

"God, man, wake up!" he shouted, at the same time reaching forward to shake Rimmer. The next few actions took place almost immediately afterwards. Rimmer screamed, his eyes snapping open, sat up sharply and before Lister could react, he had been pushed away with much more force he might have expected from someone that had been asleep only a minute earlier. As Lister fought for balance, Rimmer springed from the bed and stood next to his bunk, breathing heavily.

"Do not ever touch me again, you hear me! Never again!" his voice had a trace of hysteria in it and for a moment Lister thought he's going to push him away again. It didn't happened though, so he considered it as a good sign.

"It's only been a bad dream, Rimmer." He tried to reason with an obviously shaken hologram. "You were dreaming and I woke you up." If he had thought it might calm his bunkmate down, he was proven wrong. The only response he got was a loud gasp, another 'don't touch me' and before he could do anything Rimmer sprinted from the room faster than as if he was being chased by a blood crazed Simulant. Lister blinked once, twice, wondering since when he was the star in a 'Twilight Zone' and after realizing that since six (and few hundreds) years ago, he decided that the best time to act is 'now'. He picked up his jacket, put it on, threw the last, longing look at his bed and followed Rimmer.

It didn't take Lister long to find him. He was sitting few feet from the door, back pressed to the metal wall, knees brought to his chest and propped under his chin. He seemed to be speaking to someone, his lips moving but no words coming out. Lister knelt next to him and gently called his name. He didn't want to startle or touch Rimmer again, the bruise at his arm a painful prove that when necessary, the hologram could be much more violent than anyone could suspect. When he got no response, he leaned closer trying to catch some of the things Rimmer was saying.

"Can you speak up, I can't hear you. What is it? Are you in pain?" Again, there was no response, so he touched Rimmer's shoulder gently. That got him a response he wanted but not the one he expected. Rimmer hadn't moved, hadn't even twitched but his lips froze and he sniveled, almost as if Lister's touch hurt him. Then his lips started to move again, his words still very silent but this time loud enough for Lister to hear them. Rimmer had been repeating 'go away' over and over again, like it was a mantra of some sort, like it made him feel better. Only that one look at the hologram was enough to know that he was as far from 'better' as it gets. His eyes were wide with fear his palms were shaking and if Lister didn't know it was impossible, he would swear that Rimmer's heart was beating so loud he could hear it.

"Listen, man, I'm gonna get Kryten, ok?" he asked, although didn't expect any response. "Just stay here. Be back in a sec." He stopped himself from giving Rimmer a reassuring pat on the shoulder and run towards the cargo room praying that Rimmer didn't decide to wander away in the meantime. The last thing they all needed, consider their wariness, was to chase Rimmer around Starbug, sick, insane or otherwise.

tbc...


	2. Chapter 2 Algea

Chapter 2

By the time Lister and Kryten managed to get back to Rimmer the hologram slipped further into his strange state. They found him lying on the floor, curled into the small ball, not moving, not breathing and, for once, not responding to anything that was happening around him. No matter how hard Kryten shook him and how loud Lister called out for him to snap out of it, he reminded defiant to any treatment. Finally the robot straightened and motioned for Lister to stop.

"I'm afraid it's useless Mister Lister, sir. Mister Rimmer is totally catatonic, the sooner we get him to the sickbay the better."

Their way there was quick and easy, Rimmer, as made of light, no matter how 'hard' the light seemed to be, didn't weight more than few pounds. Neither of them spoke as Kryten put Rimmer down of the medibed he himself occupied only two weeks earlier, while the rest of crew fought for his (and theirs) life, stuck in VR. The sense of déjà vu was so strong that Lister had to bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from voicing out what he believed the both of them were thinking- that the virus somehow found the way into Rimmer's system. As soon as Lister realized what was on his mind, he pushed that thought away. There were hundreds of possible answers- stress, perhaps depression, maybe some problems with his hard-light light bee; Legion after all was quite insane. There was no need to think about the worst, illogical or not, he still hyperventilated every time he saw a hand puppet.

He let Kryten to hover over Rimmer, constantly plugging in and out some weird devices Lister was sure he didn't see before. 20 minutes and one annoyed and tired Cat later, Kryten finally stopped, put down the last 'thingy' and sighed loudly.

"Well, sirs, I think I've managed to detect what is happening to Mister Rimmer."

Cat yawned loudly, more to manifest his discontent than from actual weariness "So, what is wrong with Goal post head? And can I go back to sleep now?"

Kryten's fingers started to play anxiously with one of the wires attached to Rimmer's head "I've managed to localize and name the problem, it's a holovirus known as LN4/WM" Lister felt that his head begun to spin but before he could say anything, Kryten continued "Furthermore, I have some good and some bad news."

"Hit me with good first, I'm saving best for the last!"

Lister shot Cat a mildly dirty look but said nothing. Reasoning with Cat had always been as successful as trying to convince Adolph Hitler to shave his moustaches, besides his nerves reached its peak, damn the sequence, he just needed to know.

Kryten coughed, his eyes involuntarily checking for Lister's approval before beginning.

"The good news is that it isn't the same virus that had attacked me few weeks ago. The bad news… it's something much worse."

Cat grinned "Well, I see that interrupting my beauty sleep wasn't so pointless. What is it then?"

"And, more important" It was Lister's turn to speak now "where did he catch it. As far as I remember since that unfortunate quarantine incident we'd been very careful not to expose him to any sort of viruses- holo or not."

Kryten turned to face Lister, his no-existing lips forming a worried line "I'm afraid that Mister Rimmer wasn't exposed to anything. This virus had been manually inserted into his light bee and programmed to spread slowly. It has Simulants' signatures everywhere, it's so obvious they could as well post it to us."

Lister felt like if a rather large hand squeezed his stomach. Simulants were cruel and vicious, their hatred towards the mankind was legendary, if they in fact were the ones that had infected Rimmer and if they did it deliberately, that could only meant that they wanted to cause as much pain as possible.

"So what is it then and what can we do?"

If it was possible, the fingers toying with a wire started to move quicker. "Um… I've checked all the databanks we had and I'm afraid I don't know. The only thing I could find was that the human equivalent of this virus had been singed into the, so called, Red List as extremely dangerous. All the data had been destroyed and like I said, I only have it's ID: LN4/WM but that could mean anything. I tried to find out on my own by studying this particular case but it might take weeks and that much time we don't have. I'm afraid we don't even have hours."

"Smeg!" Lister clenched his fist around the edge of the medibed so tightly that his knuckles turned white. His brain cells were working so intensely that he could hear humming under his skull. The seconds stretched into minutes, all of them trying to figure something out on their own. Even Cat became quiet, although neither Lister nor Kryten knew was it because he was thinking or fall asleep.

When finally one of them spoke up, it was so unexpected, that Lister nearly jumped.

"Have you tried the database of that Whateverhernamewasbitchtriedtokillus doctor? You know, that one that turned canyon nostrils into a psycho the last time?"

Lister threw Cat a resigned glance. "Come on, Cat, I bet that's the first place he searched, right Kryten?"

The stunned silence that followed his question, made Lister blink. He blinked once, twice and the third time, just in case. He was sure that any second now he'd wake up from this nightmare, he could believe in anything- pregnant male, super hero Rimmer from another dimension even planet shaped as someone's mind but not that Kryten could be that stupid.

"Kryten" he begun calmly "if you don't want my fingers to clench at your neck, you better either tell me that you did or start searching now."

Another long second of silence and before he could carry out his threat, Lister saw Kryten connecting himself once again to Starbug's main computer. Robot said nothing, which considering his ever-apologizing character, which right next to unconscious Rimmer and Cat having a good idea was another prove that the situation was deadly serious.

"Oh dear" Kryten turned around so suddenly that he himself looked a bit shocked. "Erm, Sirs, Mister Cat was right, the virus is in Dr. Lanstrom database. I'm so sorry Mister David, sir, I've been so preoccupied with…"

Lister decided to ignore both the apology and Cat, who started to jump up and down and squeal 'I was right, I was right'. "Save it Kryten, you'll have plenty of time to apologize later and now" stressed Lister "what is it, what does it do and how can we stop it."

"Well, sir, it seems that this virus is fourth in a row of similar viruses, all of them created to confuse its victim and by this, to make it helpless. Unfortunately, while the other three worked as planned, this particular one had been so devastating to the victims psyche, that, like I said, all the research had been stopped and almost all data destroyed. Simulants must have found it somewhere and decide that it's a useful… toy."

"What do you mean 'devastating', what does it do?"

Kryten looked at Rimmer motionless body almost like he was making a point "LN4/WM is a working title, it shows what the virus do. LN means 'living nightmare', that's how the creators called the original one and its successors in general; four, because it was fourth and WM… it's a short from 'worst memories'. I'm afraid that as we speak, Mister Rimmer is forced to relive, as the name states, all his worst memories."

Cat's eyebrows shot up "Prepare the forks, guys, Goal post head is cooked!"

Tbc…


	3. Chapter 3 Elpis

**Chapter 3**

Kryten's words took few moments for Lister to sunk in; Rimmer's worst memories. Reliving. Now. Holly smeg!

"Ok, Kryten, prepare the VR machine, we need to…"

The robot interrupted him before he could finish the sentence. "I'm sorry, sir but this just isn't possible."

"Why not? Worked for you, didn't it?"

"Well, Mister Lister," he begun his explanations "Indeed it worked but that's because my brain was connected directly to the main computer. Mister Rimmer is at the moment completely shut down, you might say locked inside his light bee, therefore I have no access to his mind. I'm afraid that the only thing we can do is do deal with the fact that in just few hour Mister Rimmer will case to exist. Permanently."

Lister inhaled sharply, then shook his head slowly. "I don't believe it, Kryten, there have to be a way. No scientist would create a virus and didn't invent a vaccine. I just don't believe it."

"I'm sorry, sir, I've checked, there's no cure."

"What about the other viruses, couldn't you convert one of those vaccines into the one that could help him." The panic begun to build in. They had been in all sorts of different troubles but there always were a way out, by their own invention or by accident, 'not possible' disappeared from their vocabulary ages ago, why had it have to return in such circumstances?

"I could try, sir but you have to remember we have just few hours and it could take days."

Lister snorted unpleasantly, he didn't feel like being polite anymore "That's what you said before."

Kryten looked away, ashamed, his guilt chip slightly overheating "Yes, I did" he admitted grudgingly "but this time I'm sure. You can't forget that this virus is much more dangerous than those similar and that people smarter than me tried and failed."

"I don't get it." Cat, deciding that there was no chance for any more beauty sleep that night, settled on hearing some explanations. "Why is reviving the memories worse than having your worst nightmares dancing salsa under your skull?"

"That's because despite being attacked by the virus, the brain still can tell what is real and what is not. While having to face your worst fear materializing in front of you can be tough, the subconscious realizes that's it's just an illusion, that this can't be happening and that's what helps the infected person to remain sane. The memories, however, are completely different matter." Kryten stopped his speech and pointed at the lifeless hologram "Mister Rimmer's subconscious had lost the battle with the virus because it can't tell the difference. The memories are the record of things that happened, that at some point of our lives were real. Human's psyche can deal with even the most traumatizing experience but when it's forced to suddenly face the worst memories, one after another and in such a short time, it simply crashes. That's why most of the victims had died, their minds were like eggs thrown onto the hot frying pan."

Lister swear under his breath, then turned around and leaned heavily against the medibed, resigned. He just couldn't believe in what was happening. After years of being locked in that overgrown sardine can known as Red Dwarf he thought that had learned to deal with the fact, that one day luck that helped them through all their adventures might just pack it's bags, give them a finger salute and take extended vacations but the feeling of utter helplessness that was biting his ass at the moment proved him wrong. He might have considered it, he might have even prepared himself somehow but now, facing something he believed was the end for one of them, he discovered how fragile he really was. Rimmer would die, this time effectively and forever, just like the most of the viruses victims and he couldn't…

A gigantic, mental light bulb switched on above his head. He whirled around rapidly and fixed Kryten with, what he assumed, was his best 'I got you!' look.

"Wait a minute! You said 'most'? 'Most' means that there were survivors!"

"I said so, sir?" Kryten shifted uncomfortably and looked at his hands "No sir, you must have misheard" he stuttered "I meant 'all' the victims, of course."

"No way, buddy, I heard that too." Lister didn't expect for Cat to back him up, he didn't even believe that he was listening to their conversation at all but it seemed that he had misjudged his companion. He grinned at Cat, a silent way of saying 'thank you', even if he knew very well, that he could kick the truth out of Kryten any time he wanted. In return, his feline companion gave him an indifferent look "Repeat that to someone and I deny." he stated simply, although the corners oh his mouth twitched nervously. They were 3 millions years from Earth, the only life forms they ever met tried to either kill them or eat them (sometimes both) but leave it to Cat to worry about his image at the moment like that.

"But sir, it's very dangerous!"

Lister said nothing.

"There's no vaccine, you'd have to… You could die!"

Still nothing.

"The odds are like seventy three to one!"

Silence.

"It's an utter, total and absolute foolishness, I can't let you do that! The Space Corps Directive…"

"Kryten!" Lister took as much of it as he could, omission was one thing but shameless dishonesty when minutes mattered was a completely different pair of shoes "I understand you try to protect me and I appreciate that but we do not have the time for playing this game. Please" he stressed "please, tell me how can I save Rimmer's life. Don't let me sit here and watch him dying because you know very well I can't."

The robot knew he was loosing the battle but he also knew he had a one last shot "He wouldn't do that for you." He muttered angrily.

"No and that's what makes us different." Lister's voice was calm again. There was no point of getting mad at Kryten, he knew that the robot wasn't doing it because he hated Rimmer but because he was protecting him from… whatever madness was there to protect him from.

Kryten composed himself and straightened his back "There were some researches made…" he begun silently "One of the scientist's wives got accidentally infected with the virus, so he had decided to plug into her mind to fight the memories with her."

"And?"

"Well, sir, he didn't make it. His mind died with her, while his body had transformed into a salivating potted plant."

Lister sniffled "Oh… but there were some results, right? Some survivors?"

"Well, yes, sir. After this incident professor Franco, the one that had invented the virus, decided that this might be the solution. He'd found one hundred and sixty-four volunteers that agreed to have the virus injected and additional one hindered and sixty- four that were supposed to act as the, so called, lifeline."

Cat's eyes widened "Wait a minute, buddy! Are you trying to tell me that there were morons that actually agreed to have it done to them?"

Kryten appeared unaffected by the question, apparently he decided that he had already shown too much emotions as for a one discussion "Some people will do everything for the right amount of money, sir." He stated simply.

"So, how many of these smegheads got lucky?"

"Isn't it simple Cat?" it was Lister's turn to answer "Seventy three to one, if we count those who were 'lifelines', we come up with four people out of two hundred and…" he wiggled his nose "something."

"Nearly three hundreds sir." Offered Kryten helpfully.

Lister shrugged, these numbers meant nothing to him. None of these people fought the Curry monster and lived to brag about it "Whatever. Prepare the equipment Kryten, I'm going in."

Kryten didn't protest anymore, although Lister was aware that he would like to. He had chosen his way, a path he didn't want to be at but he had no choice, as letting Rimmer die was absolutely no option for him. Cat knew that and that's why he helped him- it just shortened the distance Lister had to travel between 'thinking about it' and 'doing it'. Kryten knew that and that's why he lied.

Defeated, the robot, begun punching some buttons at the main consol, frowning as he watched the results, then reached under the bed and retrieved the instruments he put there for cases like that (although, 'like that' wasn't the right term, he had never suspected he'd use them one day to send Lister to nearly certain death). He picked up a syringe, similar to that one that a long time ago had been used to perform a bodyswap on Lister and showed it to him. "Now, sir, the method is simple. I shall transfer your mind inside Mister Rimmer's light bee. Remember, that once inside there, there will be no other way out, than helping Mister Rimmer dealing with his worst memories. Actually…"

Lister's hands were sweating and he had to grab the edges of the chair he was sitting at to prevent them from shaking but he urged Kryten to continue. "Actually what? What is it?"

"Well, sir, not the worst memories. The worst memory. I've checked the scans and it appears that Mister Rimmer had entered the terminal stage of the infection." Kryten twitched, he wanted to beg Lister to stop but he didn't, they reached the point of no return and even he had to admit it.

"Get on with it then." Lister looked at unusually silent Cat. His companion just gave him a 'you know what you're doing buddy' look (or perhaps that's what Lister wanted to see) and wished his good luck.

As Lister felt a sharp pain of the needle breaking his skin, thousands of questions surfaced. How was he suppose to convince Rimmer? What should he do? Would he be able to interact with the surroundings? Would he have to convince 'their' Rimmer or Rimmer from the memory? Before he opened his mouth to anything a black void opened around him and swallowed him whole.

Tbc…

Few final words (oogh, sounds dramatic ;) )

**Feline Ranger- **You know how to make a girl feel wanted, eh? Thank You very much , after reading your fics (have to admit, much better than anything I ever wrote… btw, I've discovered why I had to access to R-restricted fics and fixed the problem) I have to say that your words means a lot.

**Kipersvindaloo** – You are lucky then cos I'm looking forward to post more as well;)

**SOtTF – **Thank you thank you thank you. As you see you have to wait no longer… urm… that's the end of this chapter, you will have to wait a bit longer after all!


	4. Chapter 4 Poros

**Chapter 4**

The darkness surrounded him from every side. When he tried to prostrate his arm he realize that he had none- he was a pure thought spinning and falling into the endless emptiness for what seemed like an eternity. The swirling subsided almost as abruptly as it begun and Lister found himself floating, although he wasn't quite sure was there anything he was floating above. The first sense that got back to him, was his touch, he became aware that he's standing at the solid surface and a second later, that he had his body back or at least, this reality's equivalent of it.

Lister blinked few times, trying to get use to this severe void but at the same time he was afraid to even twitch, after all who knew what awaited him there. One careless step and he might start falling again.

"Where the smeg am I?" He asked loudly, more to hear the sound of his own voice and break the overwhelming silence, than to anyone in particular. Now, when he considered it, he decided that this was something he should think in the first place. If he understood Kryten correctly, he was there to convince Rimmer that even the worst memories could be forgotten and the bright future was awaiting. The only problem was that he knew Rimmer for eight years and there was nothing even slightly glowy about the future; trapped three millions years from Earth with only him, Cat and Kryten for company, with no prospects for promotion or sex life… this mission was starting to look unsuccessful already and he hadn't even begun it.

He shook those thoughts away, he needed to convince the hologram in order to safe his own life as well, so perhaps he should first convince himself. What challenge awaited him here? He could bet his priceless guitar that he had landed in the middle of the infamous Gazpacho Soup incident.

Suddenly, Lister noticed that the darkness that up until that point was simply omnipresent, had begun to disappear, as if someone started to light the lamps, one after another. It took a while for Lister to understand that he wasn't witnessing the vanishing of the darkness but the materialization of a world- the spots of brightness clearly started to shape as objects, some of them connecting with each other, while other grew bigger.

Lister braced himself for… well, actually, he had no idea what was he bracing himself for but he did it anyway, this was after all, Rimmer's mind. He had been here before and, quite frankly, disliked every second of it. He looked around slowly and squirted his eyes in disbelieve. Good thing the bet he made was with himself because otherwise he would have to tell his baby 'byebye'. He wasn't in the mess, this wasn't even Red Dwarf, he was standing in the middle of the most pompous living room he had ever had a misfortune to encounter. Green drapes were hanging from the windows, it's color matching perfectly not only the overly fluffy carpet but also the trees outside. The furniture looked so clean they seemed almost sterile, Lister had seen hospitals that were less hygienic. This wasn't normal, he felt totally out of place, like a gigantic germ creeping up a surgeon's ass during the operation.

A single, shiny picture standing upon a coffee table caught his eye- a woman, man and three boys were gazing at him in contempt. He didn't need to look around anymore, he knew perfectly well, where he was.

Rimmer's house on Io.

No wonder Rimmer was such a clean-freak, being rise in a place like that could really screw someone's personality.

Lister frowned. Although he had hared about Rimmer's childhood many times and always in relation to some horrible events it never occurred to him that the holograms' worst memory was related to this place. Sure, Rimmer mentioned more than once that his father had been an always disappointed, military-obsessed sadist or that his mother had more lovers monthly than Liza Minelli through her whole life but still… it wasn't as if Lister didn't take those tales seriously, he did, just the way that Rimmer had been speaking about them, like it didn't bother him at all, made Lister less sensitive to them.

Perhaps it had been a mistake. Perhaps Rimmer was concealing his truth feelings, afraid to be ridiculed, he ridiculed them himself.

Maybe.

Maybe not.

Still, it didn't change the fact that the family portrait he was staring at had _five_ people on them- mother, father and three sons. Were was the fourth one? Had Rimmer's parents truly hated him so badly that they excluded him from a simple photograph? Lister had started to less and less optimistic, this whole place had some sick atmosphere around it, he wanted to get out of here as soon as possible.

Deciding that it was too late to have doubts or regrets, Lister formed a simple plan in his head. He had to find Rimmer and learn what was exactly about this house that was worse than dying (twice), being tortured by own Self-loathing, meeting a successful, charming yourself from another dimension or even The Soup.

He doubted that he would like the answer.

Whether he wanted it or not, it was time to move. Lister had no idea how much time did he have but he knew that he probably had it less than he needed. Kryten had said 'few hours' but he also stated that time here wasn't the same thing that in the real world. He approached the table and picked up the photograph that unsettled him only moments ago. It felt as material as any other object in artificial reality would and Lister smiled to himself, the knowledge that he could interact with the surroundings made him feel much better. If there was any mortal danger awaiting at least he could kick it in the dangly parts.

Speaking of screaming… the unexpected noise startled Lister and he nearly dropped the picture. He put it down, gently and begun to listen, trying to pick up as much as possible. The sounds were definitely coming from upstairs; quick, heavy steps, angry voices and then, a booming thud, as the doors above him were closed which such force, that Lister wondered did they survived the impact.

At least he knew what should he do now. Slowly, he begun to ascend the stairs, carefully looking around for sings of any other residents. Finding none, he sped up his pace until he found himself standing at the beginning of a long, wide corridor. On both sides he noticed doors and realized that behind one of those The It awaited. Judging from the noise from one the room, he even knew behind which.

For the first time since his arrival here, Lister felt fear. It was one thing to deal with a grown up man, neurosis and smegginess aside but it was utterly different to deal with a child. He discovered with a mild shock that he didn't want to know what's going here, not because he regretted getting here in the first place but because people abusing children had always repulsed him, the mere thought that someone, _a parent,_ would hurt a baby made him want to smash nearest mobile objects into the wall. He didn't want to know because even if he prevented it from happening again he wouldn't undo it, it had already happened in the distant past.

To Rimmer.

He didn't know who was in the room with him; was it his father, the infamous uncle Frank or one of his brothers but it didn't matter. He had to act quickly.

The plan he came up with earlier had been modified. He would enter the room, grab Rimmer, run for his life and _then_ have a heart-to-heart with him.

Lister pressed the doorknob and opened the door rapidly, wanting to surprise people inside and gain some advantage. He stepped inside ready to snatch Rimmer and do the Roadrunner act and but his feet refused to carry him further. His chest tightened and he found it difficult to breath. For a split second Lister considered his options, he could either get sick all over the ostentatious navy blue carpet or faint, both actions seemed to be equally attractive at the moment.

"Get your hands away from him" he chocked out finally "or I'll kill you."

It wasn't the first time that David Lister had threaten someone with death but, for the first time in his entire life, he actually meant it.

Tbc…

Ok, the nice bits ended. Yes, those were the nice bits. Further warnings at the beginning of the next chapter.


	5. Chapter 5 Phonoi

First of all I'd like to apologize for this ungodly delay. What can I say, writer's block is a bitch. I won't make excuses I'll just make fanfics :P

Secondly I'd like to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart. If not for your feedback I'd probably never got an impulse to fight the block and finish this chapter. You all have a special place in my heart. THANK YOU! skips around serving cookies and tomatoes>

Now, to the ficcie.

**Title:** Fighting Back

**Ratings:** M

**Pairing:** Rimmer/Lister shock! gasp! horror!

**Part:** 5 of ?

**Disclaimers: **Mine? I'm insane not stupid!

**_WARNING!_** Graphic description of severe violence, and child abuse ahead. This fic isn't **M** for nothing! Gore mode on! MWAHAHAHAHAHA!

**Notes:** There might by typos and other mistakes but I've just finished and I promised that I'd send it today. Proceed at your own risk, if you are not afraid to see English language used in the most crude and offensive manner. I'll beta it tomorrow, now, I'm going to sleep. G'night all.

**Chapter 5**

If Lister didn't know for sure that he was currently occupying some patch of neurons in Rimmer's not-really-existing brain, he would have sworn that he had been put into stasis again. While his internal clock claimed that only few seconds had past between the time he'd opened the door and stated his threat, for him it felt like hours. Even there, standing in the doorway, his hand still gripping the handle, he knew he'd remember every single detail till the end of his life… which, considering the circumstances, could be not that far away after all.

Rimmer's 'father' (God, how he loathed to call this man like that, even in his own mind), was standing above the crouched figure, the anger… no FURY… twisting his face into an indescribable parody of human features. When Lister burst in, the man's head turned in the direction of the intruder and he made a low, surprised sound. It was that exact moment that Lister noticed three things that turned the blood in his veins into liquid ice. First of all, the older man was holding a cane and, secondly, that the hand that was grasping it froze halfway between the air and a whimpering boy, that, quite obviously, was a receiver of those blows. The boy himself was that third thing, the very same that made Lister understand the saying 'to see red'. Lister knew, there was not a single doubt about it, that this child was Rimmer and that he was being… he struggled to find a right word… beaten up… no, battered!

Some part of his brain protested, repulsed, rejected this image, screamed at him that things like that were not possible, things like that were not happening, at last not in the twentieth third century and that he should flee. It was too late though, the edge had been crossed, Lister didn't listen to the voice of reason anymore, he couldn't because he didn't hear it. For him the only sound in the entire universe was the quiet whimpering of the boy that one day was suppose to become the smeggiest, the most annoying dim-witted git that this world had ever seen but now was nothing more than a terrified seven-year-old.

No one that had ever met Lister could describe him as a violent man. Actually, when it came to it, word 'violent' was as far on the end of the list of his attribute as 'open-minded' on Hitler's. Even among the thousands of people aboard _Red Dwarf_ he had been known as the calm, patient one, mostly because of the fact that he had shared his room with Rimmer and, somehow, the second technician had never shown on duty with a black eye or any visible bruises. He didn't want to harm, he didn't understand how could anyone enjoy causing pain to a living creature but now, he was sure that he would laugh while pulling this guys nails off.

"Who are you? What do you want? Get out of my house now!" Despite the fact that Rimmer's father spoke loudly and angrily Lister felt like the each word had been wrapped in a cotton and put in a jar of jelly before they reached him but still, it was enough to stir him up and break that strange state of suspension he was in. He blinked and slowly shifted his gaze from the boy and onto the father. There was still the evident rage and surprise in the other man's posture that seemed to obscure anything else but Lister wouldn't be who he was if he didn't know how to read emotions, even those hidden deeply. For him it was enough to glance once to know that under all that fury was uncertainty and… fear?

If his teeth weren't so tightly clenched together Lister would laugh. He was alone and unarmed, in a strange house and yet, this supposedly military trained man was afraid of him. He didn't have to be a tactical genius to know that if Rimmer's father launched himself at him and hit him with that cane he would be flat on his ass quicker than it took Cat to find a mirror, so he was quite grateful, that, beneath it all, the older man turned out to be nothing more than a typical abusing coward.

"I said, leave him alone or I will kill you, you sick son of a bitch" he repeated slowly, a small smirk appearing at the corner of his mouth. Gone were both rage and fright, he was beyond those, he had reached another level of distress- a cold equanimity. It was that stage of self-control that seemed almost unnatural, like if all the brain cells had suddenly decided that it was time to put an end to all that nonsense with 'feelings' and 'emotions' and just do the job properly for once. The highest priority now, was to get Rimmer away from this lunatic.

Not taking his eyes from the older man and his still lifted cane, he spoke finally, trying to make it sound both forceful and comforting "Rimmer, come here, all right?"

"I'm not going anywhere, you punk. Leave my house now or I'll call the police" Lister's confusion lasted only for a second. Of course that this man thought he'd been speaking to him, in this time and place he was Mr. Rimmer and Rimmer was, well, amongst other things, he was Arnold. He decided to ignore the man and slowly shifted his gaze onto the weeping figure, this time addressing him directly "Arnold, come here, It's going to be all right, I came to help you." Again, there was no response and Lister wondered did Rimmer was acknowledging that someone was in the room with him or was he gone so far in his misery, that he didn't realize even that.

Lister bit his lower lip in frustration, trying to figure out someway to convince Ri… Arnold to come with him and, at the same time, avoid the physical confrontation with Mister Rimmer. As usually in the situations like that, wishes and actions quickly became two different things. Using the fact that Lister had became distracted, Rimmer's father launched at him, years of self-inflicted military training finally taking over. Perhaps, if they had really met all those years ago, the older man would have no problems with gaining the advantage over Lister but, despite the fact that Lister had never gone to the gym, never jogged, never even lifted the weights if there weren't some girls to impress nearby, he had something much more precious – his experience. Living in a permanent state of alert, disrupted only by the actual attacks of the Monster of the Month taught him much more than any trainer could. He was surprised by his own reaction when he easily dodged the attack, his eyes searching for something he could use as a weapon.

When Rimmer's father whirled around trying to deliver another blow, Lister was already in the far corner of the room, grabbing the only thing that seemed to have any use against the cane that the frantic man was trying to hit him with- one of the golf clubs that stood in a bag next to the wall. Before he could use it, he had to avoid two more strikes but it was all too easy. The older man was clearly panicking now, his aim was sloppy and the fact that Lister was both quicker and younger wasn't helping his case.

Lister was determined to end it, the more time he spent here, fighting, the less time he'd have later to… he had no idea to do what but that didn't change anything, 'now' was always the right time to finish something. He clench his teeth hard and waited. The next time Rimmer's father lifted his hands to deliver another blow, he took the opportunity and swung the club right into his unprotected belly. The man gasped in surprise and pain, and bent in half, the cane finally falling from his hands. If the circumstances were different Lister might have considered letting him go but the threats he made earlier, the sight that greeted him was still too fresh. He raised the club, involuntary mimicking the way that Rimmer's father had done it with the cane not so long ago and, targeting the head, swayed it down, rapidly.

The sound of a cracking skull almost made him loose the whole contents of the stomach but he grinded his teeth even harder, allowing the instincts to take over. Rimmer's father was a threat, a huge, smegging pebble in his shoe and he had to get rid of him before going further. He had to be… eliminated.

"It's not real, not real" he kept muttering to himself again and again, while delivering another blows. After the fourth hit the older man stopped moving and it took Lister all the self-control he had left to stop. It would be too easy to just abandon himself in that madness, to surrender to his anger, fear and frustration but he remembered why was he here. He came here, out of his own free will, knowing fully the consequences, to save a man who annoyed him for the every day of his life since they had met. He wasn't here to play hero or angel of vengeance, he was here to be a friend, a companion, a teammate, massacring the said man's father could have felt good in that sick, surreal sort of way but it couldn't get him any closer to his target.

He allowed the golf club to fall from his hands and he turned around slowly, to finally face the boy that was the reason of his presence here. Arnold was kneeling on the floor, exactly in the same position that Lister saw him in for the first time but he wasn't sobbing or crying anymore, he was staring silently at the motionless shape that lay at Lister's feet.

Lister moved a bit to obscure this gruesome view from his (future) colleague and approached Rimmer slowly. The boy still didn't move or shift his gaze and Lister could only guess that he was in a state of a serious shock, he reminded this frozen even as Lister crouched down next to him and put an arm on his shoulder. He expected a flinch at least, this quietness was unnerving.

"Hi, my name is David" he begun gently, surprised by the unsteadiness and weakness of his own voice. He knew that he had to be more confident and reassuring if he wanted to achieve anything. "Can you hear me?" he asked, carefully controlling the tone of his question "Are you in pain? I came to help you." Once again, he received no answer. He tried to determine what to do next, after all, of all the things he expected to see or do, murdering Rimmer's fa…

The realization hit him harder than any stick could. He had murdered this man, illusion or not, he had done it in front of this man's own son and a part of him enjoyed it and wanted more. He took a deep, calming breath, praying for more of this equanimity that seemed to fill him only few minutes back. He couldn't risk a break down, not here, he had a mission to accomplish, his and Rimmer's lives depended on his ability to compose himself, no matter the circumstances. He had to be strong, for the both of them. If he lived, he'd have plenty of time to grieve, to feel remorse and to have all guilty conscience he'd want to but in this moment, the only thing he should be worried about was Rimmer and his safety.

He forced himself to smile, though he suspected, it looked probably as fake as Pamela Anderson's boobies "I'm going to pick you up now, Arnie, ok? I'm not going to hurt you, I just want to take you someplace less" corpsed "gloomy." He lifted Rimmer easily, careful not to cause him any additional pain, feeling relieve when the boy didn't put up a fight. "It's going to be all right Arnie," he whispered in, what he hoped, was his most soothing voice, "you are safe, nobody will harm you again."

He'd left the room not glancing behind even once but, at the same time, remarkably aware, that, everything he left there, would be with him for the rest of his life.

Tbc…


End file.
